The overarching aim of the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity, or CAIRHE, is to position itself as the state and regional leader in multidisciplinary health equity research and to increase the number of Center investigators achieving independent status. In addition to research and pilot project funding managed by the Administrative Core, the PD/PI, advisers, and support staff of the Administrative Core will provide 1) administrative leadership for the Center; 2) fiscal management for the Center and its funded investigators; 3) statistical support and other technical research support for investigators; and 4) external grant development services for investigators necessary for their career development and for achieving the Center's long-term objectives. The Core will provide Center leadership statewide and regional impact in Native and rural health equity, drawing on counsel from the External Advisory Committee (EAC), Internal Mentor Council, and the External Evaluator. External evaluation will focus on key benchmark questions and indicators related to the Administrative Core, the Montana IDeA Community Engagement Core (CEC), and the Translational Biomarkers Core, as well as the career development of research and pilot project faculty investigators?all within the context of community-based participatory research (CBPR). The Core will manage the Center's Career Guidance Plan for research and pilot project investigators, designed to guide junior faculty in the transition to, and attainment of, independent researcher status. With oversight by the PD/PI, in addition to the EAC and the Internal Mentor Council, the Career Guidance Plan involves both individual and team mentoring of junior investigators. The Center will continue a successful Pilot Project Program to increase the number and capacity of health equity researchers at MSU. Pilot project leaders will form the cohort of successful researchers from which CAIRHE will appoint replacement research project leaders, subject to EAC and NIGMS prior approval. The Administrative Core will work closely with the CEC to develop and sustain collaboration with partners belonging to the Center's innovative Health Equity Network. Finally, the Core will implement the Center's Sustainability Plan to guide CAIRHE in the transition from COBRE funding to other competitive grant support during COBRE Phase II and III and beyond. Upon achieving its Aims by the completion of Phase II, the Administrative Core will have further established a highly visible and effective collaborative, multidisciplinary center focused on health equity research. Through the successful execution of CAIRHE's Career Guidance Plan and Sustainability Plan, a growing number of independent investigators within the Center will position CAIRHE for success during COBRE Phase III and as a future institutionalized center that is a permanent contributor to the biomedical research capacity at Montana State University.